Restaurant review: Down-home BeerBQ one of the best value meals in WhistlerBack to video

Each year, carnivores converge at Brewery and the Beast in Vancouver (it’s July 23 this year) with top chefs grilling and beer pouring freely. Alas, the tickets quickly sell out.

Well, carnivores can also look to Whistler. The Four Seasons Whistler Hotel is posh and it’s elegant but come summer it changes gear; for the past six years, a once-a-week barbecue (BeerBQ) has been attracting locals and visitors, and it just keeps getting better every year.

Every Thursday evening, some 400 people jump at the good deal — $34 per person with discounts for kids. It’s held on the landscaped Sidecut restaurant terrace and you help yourself to all-you-can eat barbecued meats and salmon, along with a huge array of salads and side dishes.

BeerBQ chef Artie McGill at his new smoker. Mia Stainsby/PNG

Barbecue chef Artie McGee orders 800 lb. of meat for each event. When I visited recently the place was packed and upon seeing the massive amount of meats being barbecued and smoked, I feared the Neanderthal DNA would be aroused. Sure, some guys walked by with heaping plates and victory hoots but it was a very civilized affair and people generally relaxed, enjoyed the live music and socialized with friends and family under a red tented area.

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“It’s my baby. It’s the thing I look forward to every year,” McGee says. This year, they’ve added a local craft beer component (about four breweries per event) with brewery staff on site, and the beers appear in a lot of the dishes.

“We went on a three-day 13-brewery tour to see what kind of beers we have and to understand their styles,” says McGee, the hotel banquet chef.

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He uses the beers of the week in some of the dishes and was planning a cucumber blackberry mint salad with a gazpacho shaved ice with Strathcona blackberry wheat beer when I spoke with him.

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“I’ll use difference profiles of the beers to add twists to the barbecued meats I can’t remove, changing up the sauce for pork with stout or porter or brown ale. If I remove the pork ribs, I’d get yelled at so I tweak.”

At the barbecues, you’ll see a chuleta (a Spanish cut of pork with loin, belly, ribs and chicharron in one cut.

“We call it the porky pig,” McGee says. “We par-cook it in the kitchen, smoke it for three hours, then finish it on the grill.”

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“We have four racks inside and hooks to to hang ribs or whole animals like ducks. On Canada Day, we smoked Montreal-style brisket but right now, there’s less in there because of the fire ban. We can only do so much.”

When I visited, my favourite dish was a spicy brisket which forced me, against my will, to go for a second helping. The cornbread force-marched me to the table, too. McGee has also made a shrimp-bacon-beer hush puppy version with Strangefellow beer.

Some side dishes at BeerBQ at Four Seasons Whistler. Mia Stainsby/PNG

I was happy to see there were a lot of salads and roasted veg. In fact, there’s plenty to keep a vegetarian visitor happy.

Trot back to the grills (the meats come hot and sizzling off them) as often as you want, but for drinks (craft beer, sangria), buy tickets from a server. The beers are $8 a glass or four for $25. Servers are Four Seasons staff, and are polished and friendly.

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“I’m not just saying this because I’m the chef, but it’s one of the best values in Whistler,” says McGee.

“There’s a lot of good quality food. The vegetables alone are expensive and I could charge the price just for the sides.”

I have to agree. Food in such quantities isn’t haute but think of it as a really good backyard barbecue. The hotel makes some money, McGill says, but it’s a way of reaching out to the Whistler community.

“People can hang out, see what we’re about and hopefully come and eat at our restaurant (Sidecut). It helps our friends in the brewery industry get their name out there, too. There’s a lot of new and young ones that are necessarily recognized.”

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Yes, there’s a big demand for the tickets but if you arrive at 5 p.m. or around 8:30 p.m., chances of getting in right away are best.

Best of the West is at Ambleside Pier. /PROVINCE

Best of the West

The seventh annual Best of the West at the Harmony Arts Fest matches 13 North Shore restaurants with 13 B.C. wineries on August 9, from 7 to 9 p.m.

Eat and drink on the beautiful Ambleside Pier for $100 plus tax, with tickets at harmonyarts.ca. If you want to double your pleasure, you can buy a combo ticket which includes a Mixology Night, in August 10, where Lower Mainland’s best mixologists strut their cocktails. The combination tickets are $150 plus tax, available by phone only at 866-514-5050.

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